opportunities for smaller stakeholders to easily increase their holdings and broaden the distribution of SP
This is an illusion. The minnows are increasing their holdings by a rate of less than 20c per day while this one account goes from being a minnow to a whale within a couple months without ever having to buy any steem like the rest of us. This reduces the demand for steem as successful vote buying gamers no longer have to buy to become a whale.
There was never any idea that one had to necessarily buy to become a whale. The premise of Steem has always been that if you are successful in getting votes for your content, as Steemsports has been, along with many others, you can earn your SP. Or one can buy. Both paths have always been there, just as they are now (along with mining and witnessing).